Old browser warning
Site look funky? Your browser is so old standards-based layouts and styling confuse it. Consider updating. One excellent option is Mozilla Firefox, versions of which are available for Linux, Mac and Windows.
Accident Database: Accident #422
| River: | Vermillion River |
| Location: | Low head dam with a runnable fish ladder |
| Water Level: | Medium |
| Difficulty: | VI |
| Accident Code(s): | Lowhead Dam |
| Injury Code(s): | Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal |
| Experienced/Inexperienced: | Inexperienced |
| Private/Commercial: | Commercial |
| Boat Type: | Raft |
| Number of Occupants: | 2 |
| Number of Victims: | 1 |
| Hazard Codes: | Hydraulic/Keeper Hole |
| Detailed Description: | DESCRIPTION: On June 15, 1996 six rental rafts encountered a low-head dam on the
Vermilion
River
in
Illinois
. The group was planning to run the fish ladder on river right. One raft, containing two men, did not get over there in time. They went over the five-foot drop sideways and were caught in the hydraulic. One man, who was wearing a PFD, washed out. He was cut and beaten by rebar and debris below the dam. The other man, James Schiro, was not wearing his PFD. He disappeared. His brother obtained permission to drop dynamite into the hydraulic to release the body, but this was not successful. The body was found three days later, many miles downstream.
SOURCE: The Chicago Whitewater Association’s newsletter The Gradient
|
| Conclusions: | ANALYSIS: (Walbridge) The hydraulics around dams are deceptively dangerous. Summer high water always brings out inexperienced floaters who do not recognize the danger that dams pose.
|
| Report Status: | Completed |
